The present invention relates to a medical information system for managing and displaying medical information, such as charts and reading reports.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 08-144535, filed Jun. 6, 1996, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
When a medical care is performed in an outpatient clinic or a sick ward of a hospital, medical information, such as charts, medical images and reading reports are important reference information with which a doctor diagnoses. The doctor first makes a reference to the chart. The reading report is, as one of results of examinations, filed in the chart together with other results of examinations (such as a blood examination) to which a reference will be made. The medical image, such as an X-ray image, is filed in a film holder so as to be referred simultaneously with the related chart and the reading reports. The above-mentioned items of information have been stored and managed in the form of analog information, such as paper or a file.
In recent years, a medical information system for electronically managing medical information has been researched and developed. As one of the medical information systems, a hospital information system (hereinafter called as an xe2x80x9cHISxe2x80x9d) based on text data, such as charts and reading reports, has been developed. A conventional HIS includes an examination ordering system, an accounting system, a specimen examination system, a medicine system, chart managing system and the like. The HIS receives inputting of an order (an instruction to perform examinations) and results of the examinations and manages data of biochemical examinations, reading reports and the like mainly composed of text data or characters. The items of managed text data are displayed on a CRT or the like so as to be presented to the doctor.
Meantime, diagnosis of medical images has been performed such that an order is input from an HIS terminal device disposed in an outpatient clinic or a sick ward. However, the medical image is not displayed by the HIS terminal device. The reason for this is that the medical image has a considerably large size (for example, an X-ray image has a size of 2000 pixelsxc3x972000 pixelsxc3x9712 bits) which cannot be sufficiently displayed by the HIS terminal device which is designed for displaying the text data due to its resolution and data transfer speed. Therefore, in medical facilities having the HIS, a reference has been made to an analog film stored in a film holder when a reference to an image must be made together with text data.
Therefore, there arises a requirement for displaying a medical image together with the text data on a CRT display device to enable an electronic reference. Thus, a variety of methods capable of realizing this electronic reference have been developed and researched. At present, the following methods have been established:
(1) An image is fetched (received) from another system for managing images, for example, a picture archive and communication system (PACS) in such a manner that the size of the image is reduced (compressed) to a size, for example, 512 pixelsxc3x97512 pixels, which can be treated by the HIS terminal device so as to display the reduced image by the HIS terminal device together with the text data.
However, since the above-mentioned system is arranged to compress the image, the display image quality is too poor to realize a diagnosing accuracy acceptable for respiratory internal medicine, ortho-paedic surgery, cerebral surgery and urinology in which image diagnoses are performed frequently.
(2) It might therefore be considered feasible to employ a system in which a precise image display terminal device for another system for managing images, for example, the PACS, is provided for the HIS terminal device so as to display a precise image.
Although the above-mentioned system is able to realize a satisfactory image quality, the PACS terminal device and the HIS terminal device must independently be operated to display an image and the text data, thus the system cannot easily be operated. Therefore, a satisfactory large throughput for use in daily diagnoses cannot easily be realized.
As described above, the above-mentioned system is not a system which can be employed as a practically satisfactory system.
Although the convention medical information system is, as described above, able to convert character information, such as charts, reading reports and results of examinations, into electronic data (text data) which can easily be stored so as to be electronically displayed on a display screen, such as a CRT, in order to present information to a doctor, a precise medical image cannot be stored together with the text data so as to be displayed.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a medical information system with which information, such as charts, medical images, reading reports and results of examinations, required to perform a diagnosis can be formed into electronic data to be stored and electronic data can be displayed on a screen to provide information for a doctor.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a medical information system which retrieves examination information and can automatically display a desired image and a corresponding reading report.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an image terminal device of a picture archive and communication system which is connected to a character terminal device of a hospital information system for managing character information and operates interlocking with screen change of the character terminal device of the hospital information system.
Further object of the present invention is to provide a character terminal device of a hospital information system which is connected to an image terminal device of a picture archive and communication system for managing image information and operates interlocking with screen change of the image terminal device of the picture archive and communication system.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medical information system comprising first display means for displaying medical information of a patient, the medical information comprising text data, second display means for displaying a medical image information corresponding to the medical information, and means for retrieving information which is to be displayed by one of the first display means and the second display means in accordance with identification information for identifying information which is displayed by the other of the first display means and the second display means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display terminal apparatus of a picture archive and communication system for storing a medical image and which is connected to a display terminal apparatus of a hospital information system for storing examination information which is formed of text data, the apparatus comprising an interface for receiving identification information from the display terminal apparatus of the hospital information system for identifying an examination, means for displaying an image relating to an examination which is identified by the identification information received by the interface, means for changing the image displayed by the display means to an image relating to another examination, and an interface for supplying a display command to the display terminal apparatus of the hospital information system for requesting display of an examination information relating to the other examination.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display terminal apparatus of a hospital information system for storing an examination information formed on text data and which is connected to a display terminal apparatus of picture archive and communication system for storing a medical image medical image, the apparatus comprising an interface for receiving identification information from the display terminal apparatus of the picture archive and communication system for identifying an examination, means for displaying examination information relating to an examination which is identified by the identification information received by the interface, means for changing the examination information displayed by the display means to examination information relating to another examination, and an interface for supplying a display command to the display terminal apparatus of the picture archive and communication system for requesting display of an image relating to the other examination.
According to the medical information system of the present invention, information, such as charts, medical images, reading reports and results of examinations, required to perform a diagnosis can be formed into electronic data to be stored and retrieved and electronic data can be displayed on a screen to provide information for a doctor.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.